September to December - The Final Quarter

We packed ourselves into our trusty Prius and set out on Sep 8 for a road trip that would take us 7300 miles.  Our destinations included Iowa, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Ohio.  We finally returned home on Oct. 5th.

Joanne's 50th high school reunion initiated the trip.  In the 50 years since her 1967 graduation 27 of the 132 graduates have passed.  All the more reason these get togethers are so special.  Thanks to the reunion committee for doing such a great job of encouraging folks to attend.

Many of Joanne's classmates had heard about her battle with Guillian Barre Syndrome, so Joanne's sisters decided she should go to the informal Friday gathering as a tough biker chick.  No the dog didn't get to go.  On Saturday Joanne was back to normal atire and enjoying catching up with her high school friends.

The class reunion was followed by a family reunion of sorts.  The Johnson clan gathered at the Rutland hall and caught up and shared memories.

Cousins and spouses

On the way to Iowa we stopped and visited the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD and the falls in Sioux Falls, SD.  Leaving Iowa we visited the Vesterheim museum (all things Norwegian) in Decorah, IA,  Effigy Mounds National Monument in Harpers Ferry, IA, and the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, IA.

From Iowa we headed east to visit David's relatives and Bucks County friends.  Our apologies in advance to those we didn't manage to connect with.  We voted Indiana the worst state to drive through.  I am sure they saved money by eliminating human toll takers on the turnpike, but the experience suffered.  The rest stops were equally uninspiring.  We chose to avoid Indiana on our return trip.

Our visits in NY, PA and MD involved lots of family gatherings.  Thanks everyone.

Relatives on David's mother's side



Relatives on David's dad's side

We returned back to Anacortes on Oct 5th in time to enjoy the fall weather.  We were delighted to host a former Rohm and Haas couple, Sue and Angus for a couple days.  Unfortunately it had turned cold and rainy for their visit.  David and crew cooked the October yacht club dinner for nearly 90 people.  All went smoothly.  He is already signed up for next year.

November 9th we headed to Mexico for 5 weeks.  It was great to get back after missing last year due to Joanne's GBS. 

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner in Cancun at the Agua Santa restaurant with friends from Oklahoma, Florida, and Canada.

We had friends from Anacortes visiting for the first time, so we visited Chichen Itza, Coba, San Migulito as well as a cenote where the fish give you a pedicure.  Great fun!

In our 5 days home before heading to Iowa for Christmas we managed to run/walk the Jingle Bell 5K, host our neighborhood Christmas party and attend two other parties.  I will never complain that there is nothing to do in Anacortes.

Santa and Mrs. Claus joined us for the drive to Iowa.  Santa enjoyed seeing the country from the back seat.  We hit snow from Bozeman to Billings Montana, but the drive was pretty normal.  The temps in the teens kept the roads from being slushy.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Happy New Year

July/August: A pretty normal summer

I am continuing with aqua aerobics and walking the neighbor's dog.  We have participated in several of the Thursday hikes.  I am most proud of hiking Sauk Mountain.  It is only 4.2 miles round trip, but it involves a 1200' elevation gain and 27 switchbacks.  We stopped at the snow and I was able to practice my snow angels.  I sent this photo to my therapists from Fidalgo Rehab to show them the progress I have made.

Speaking of therapists, I was discharged from physical therapy near the end of July.  I still see the hand therapist and do all sorts of exercises.  My grip is getting stronger and I can do most things I need to do, except shuffle cards.

We did get out on the boat briefly in July.  We went to nearby Hunter Bay (Lopez Island) to help others in the yacht club catch crab for a steak and crab night.  Between the three boats we caught more than enough Dungeness crabs.

David decided that if we were staying home for the summer, he may as well paint the outside of the house.  His rational is that he isn't getting any younger.  He did engineer a quite long pole so that he minimized the amount of ladder climbing he had to do.  As you can see, he used himself to wipe on quite often.  One of the benefits of thrift store clothing - you can toss it at the end of the job.

Fate stepped in at the end of July and we bought the RV that had belonged to our friend Rita.  Some of you may remember our driving trip in 2011 with Rita up the Alcan highway to Alaska. The RV named "Amazing Grace" is now a part of our happy household.  If you need a nice two person tent, we have one for sale.  I think our tenting days are over.

What, you might ask, are we going to do with an RV?  That is a good question.  We will have to find a balance between boating, RV-ing, using our timeshares and staying home.  We decided now that I am back to near normal it was time to get David fixed.  My neighbor warned me about that language.  She said, "it sounds like he is a dog. and you are taking him to the vet."  For some time he has had Dupuytrens contracture - manifested in his pinky finger that wouldn't straighten.  He also has a related problem on his feet - Ledderhose disease.  This manifests as bumps that do make walking somewhat painful.  A procedure called needle aponeurotomy done at the University of Washington medical center straightened the finger.

Once the finger was straight, he was ready for radiation treatment on his hands and feet.  Think of those bumps as benign tumors.  Mon-Fri for two weeks in Aug he got his radiation treatments.  They didn't hurt at all.  This was done at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue, WA.  We took the RV down to The Trailer Inn RV park and made it a vacation of sorts.

August wasn't all medical and no fun.  We were visited by a former Rohm and Haas colleague and his wife.  I had actually hired him 20 years ago and then gave him my job when I retired.  After picking them up in Vancouver we took the opportunity to visit another former colleague in Pt. Roberts.  For those of you not familiar with Pt. Roberts, it is the only town in the US that you have to cross into Canada to get to.  And yes, the Pt. Roberts couple have two Icelandic ponies.

We also had a very pleasant visit with Ulyana & Steve from Baltimore.  We gave them a taste of boating in the San Juans by taking them to Friday Harbor (San Juan Is.) and Fisherman's Bay (Lopez Is.) on our boat.

All in all it has been a good summer.  We could have used a bit more rain, but who's complaining.
September holds a drive across the USA, but we will be home most of October.  Until next time!

May/June - Returning to normal

With the travel in March and April over it is time to get back to the job of returning to normal.  I have cut my therapy sessions to once a week (both physical and occupational for my hands).  I have added aqua aerobics twice a week to take the place of the dropped PT sessions.  The pool classes are very popular with 20-30 of us most of the time. We have 5 or 6 men that come regularly.  Most of us are retired ranging in age from 60's to 80's.

David and I are also back to somewhat regular stretching with our "DVD instructors" Tony and Miranda.  Occasionally we will add Pilates with Nicole or the Ali McGraw yoga tape.  If you remember Ali McGraw from Peyton Place (TV show) you must be of my generation

Getting back to normal means returning to my volunteer "job" at the Red Door thrift shop.  I don't know who was happier - me to be back or them to have me back.  I can say their sales have gone up with me back on the job.

I  hosedt our Piper Circle neighborhood book club in May.  We read "A Dog's Purpose".  I haven't seen the movie, but I did enjoy the boo.  Warning:  there are some sad parts, but there is a happy ending.

I started hiking on a somewhat regular basis with the Thursday hiking group.  We are so fortunate to have the North Cascades within reach.  Below is a photo from our Thunder Knob hike on May 25th.

At the end of May our yacht club hosted the Capital City Yacht Club from Sidney, BC in an event known as Capidalgo.  This year we had a pirate theme.  We all had a jolly good time!

I traded in "my pirate" for a Canadian Johnny Depp look alike

TBoating out was high on our list of things to do.  Our first two trips (Burrows Bay and Sucia Island) were true shake down cruises as we found things that needed repair.  Our third trip out to Blind Bay and Fisherman's cove was a clean trip with no problems detected.  I did successfully kayak for the first time at Sucia.

Kayaking in Shallow Bay, Sucia Island

I Being able to ride my bike was one of my physical therapy goals.  We started out riding around the neighborhood.  The first time we went downtown, I did fall over twice.  Not while I was riding, but when I was getting started.  We made some adjustments and since then (knock on wood) all has been well.

Riding around the Clearidge neighborhood

Normalcy also includes socializing with our Newcomer friends and welcoming friends from Hawaii on their visit back to the mainland.

I am feeling pretty normal these days.  David gets to live pretty normally as well, but he does keep a watchful eye on me as I push my limits.

I predict July and August will be more normal life, but who knows???

March - April Travel time

Pre- Guillian Barre we had made several travel plans.  We cancelled our November/December Mexico trip as well as the drive to Iowa for Christmas and the skiing in January.

The trip we had planned pre-GBS to Aruba and Curacao seemed like a good test of my ability to travel. Warm weather and warm water couldn't hurt my stiff joints.  My therapists gave me plenty of exercises to do while gone so we were set.

In Aruba we met our friends from England.  They had picked up our rental car for the week.  In no time we were off to our 2 bedroom villa in the Bubali area not far from Eagle beach.  It was great!  We had our own little pool and very helpful landlords.

Bubali Aruba - Our car and villa

Our car enabled us to explore Aruba.  Arikok park offered trails for a nice hike. On the windward coast we viewed the Natural Bridge.  We saw both the new bridge and the older one which had collapsed.  We also visited Casibari rock and marveled at rocks that were clearly underwater at one time. The amazing thing is that these rocks are not on the coast.

Hiking at Arikok Park, the Natural Bridge and Casibari Rock

The California lighthouse was the starting point for another hike down to the wild coast .  We managed to find the bird sanctuary which is not a tourist attraction, but offered a nice view of a windmill from the viewing tower.  We had a beach day at Baby Beach where the water was nice and calm.

CA Lighthouse, Bird Sanctuary and Baby Beach

One can't leave Aruba without visiting the capital, Oranjestad and San Nicholas where we ate at O'Neil's Caribbean Kitchen and enjoyed the murals.

Oranjestad & San Nicholas

I have been using the Fitbit I received for Christmas to track my progress walking.

I had a good week in Aruba.

From Aruba we flew on to Curacao, the third of the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonair, and Curacao).

We had a rental car for the beginning of the two weeks and then turned it in and managed locally.

We were staying with our friends from England at the Royal Sea Aquarium resort where they own 2 weeks of timeshare.  

While we had the car we focused on hiking the windward side of the island.  

When we weren't hiking we were enjoying the lagoon beach or the pool.  David and I also made use of the hot tub for finger flexion exercises.  The fingers bend better if they are warm.  We had unlimited access to the Aquarium with their dolphin and seal shows.  Books and puzzles rounded out our activities.

Curacao like Aruba is a Dutch island.  A visit to the capital, Willemstad offered a nice market, colorful houses and even a fixer-upper.

Without the car we did some hikes from the resort up and around and over to a nice waterfront restaurant in another resort.  Our friends participated fully in my rehab by finding challenging hikes.

Having done well on the 3 week trip to Aruba / Curacao we looked forward to another 2 weeks in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

We gave ourselves 4 days at home to do laundry, clean house and go to therapy.  The good news was that I had continued to improve while away, so my therapists said, "go for it!"

We stayed at Villa del Palmar overlooking the bay with Los Arcos in the background.  From our balcony we could check out which cruise ships had come in.  We were far enough from the marina area to avoid the crowds.

View from our balcony

Our two weeks in Cabo were focused on rehab via swimming, walking, kayaking, and paddle boarding.

My frozen shoulders are much better.  My walking endurance was proven in Aruba and Curacao.  In Cabo I focused on walking in the sand which gave my ankle a stability workout.  Our room was on the 7th floor, so we used the stairs (mostly down) as another workout.  

The biggest challenge in Cabo was the paddle board.  I did get up with David sitting on the board so I could push off his shoulders.  Of course, we have no photos of that since we were both on the board.  On my own the best I could do was on my knees.  Paddling in a double kayak was not a problem.

After the Cabo trip we gave ourselves 8 days at home.  Just enough time for David to get some landscaping done out front. He did hire a guy to help him move the 8 yards of soil he had delivered (2 piles).  David and the landscaper planted the bigger plants and I got to plant the little things.  It is all doing pretty well.

I started driving again after our return from Cabo.  With David working on the yard it was convenient for me to drive myself to therapy, etc. I now have some independence and David some freedom. 

As I mentioned, after 8 days at home we were off traveling again.  This time we headed to England. The first stop was to visit our friends from Tewkesbury (yes the same ones we spent time with in Aruba and Curacao).  It was back to hiking with some sightseeing thrown in as well.  We visited Stratford upon Avon, Chester, and Cardiff in Wales.

Chester is a walled city dating back to Roman times.  I love that the public walking paths cross pastures with either stiles or gates to get you through the fences.

In Cardiff, Wales we hiked in a beautiful park, around a castle and even managed a tour of the new modern Assembly building (like our Congress).

I had my most steps in a day while hiking in England - 26000+ steps.

The next phase of our UK trip involved meeting up with three other couples from our yacht club to charter narrow boats for a trip along the Llangollen canal in England/Wales.  We picked up our boats from Black Prince at the Chirk marina.  Our criteria for our boats were 2 bedroom/2 bathroom with a door out the bow as well as the stern.  We traveled the canal from Chrik to Llangollen to Whitchurch and back.

The boats don't move very fast.  You can walk the tow path and keep up with the boat.  The scenery is mostly rural with cows and sheep viewing our passing.

The challenges on the canal included bridges that needed to be raised, locks that needed to be opened and closed to raise or lower the boat, tunnels that were dark and scary, and aqueducts that were bridges for the boats across valleys.

The fun of canal boating in the UK is eating out at pubs.  We had plenty of opportunities, but could cook on the boat as well.  We were especially fond of tea and scones in the afternoon.

We ended our UK trip with a visit to our 1st exchange student and family in Watford.

It is always fun to catch up and see what the kids are doing.  My how they are growing and learning.

Time to head home.  The traveling went well.  Now it is back to therapy and home life and hopefully some boating.

January & February

We rang in the New Year with 6 of our boating friends.  We were all so proud that we lasted until midnight!

With good wishes all around we are ready to get this year going.

While I am looking good and sounding good, I still am working on balance and walking.  Many of my joints don't have full range of motion, especially my shoulders and fingers.

I have physical therapy three times a week.  Sometimes in the pool and sometimes at the hospital gym.


On the second of January I went downstairs for the first time.  I was practicing for a visit to friends that would involve stairs.  It was a success!  Our social schedule picked up some.  We were playing cards, going to movies, socializing with the Newcomers group and at the yacht club.  It was all good therapy.

At home we were increasing the walking distance and added some hills in the neighborhood.  David actually walked both neighbor's dogs as I was using my hiking poles for support.  In the beginning of Jan I hiked just under a mile at a 45 min/mi pace.  By the end of Feb I was routinely hiking 1.3 mi at a 29 min/mi pace.  Plus I was walking without my poles.  With the hiking group I did 2.3 miles.  My stamina is improving.

In February I started back at my volunteer job at the Red Door Thrift Shop.  I wasn't as helpful as before Guillian Barre, but it is great fun.

I decided that horseback riding might be good for me.  I was invited to a friend's barn and rode Max.  The hardest part was getting on and off.  That success inspired me to go to Lang's Horse and Pony Farm for a "lesson" with a friend.

To loosen the shoulders we have several "exercises" we do at home.  I have the pulley on the door to pull my arms up.  We also do a long slow stretch with me on the massage table and therabands tied to weights on the floor pulling my arms back.  It seems a bit like being tied to the rack, but it has helped.

Swimming has also been helpful with the shoulders.  Mid-February we added an occupational therapist to work on the fingers specifically.  They are bending more.  She can get the fingers down to the palms.

I won't say I don't have pain when things are pushed, but I don't live in pain and for that I am grateful.

We are off to try some vacationing in March and April.  We are hoping warm weather will loosen those joints even more.